Water Quality Projects » Burke-o-lators

Alutiiq Pride Oceans Alaska Sitka Tribe IOOS Pacific Region Ocean Acidification Network

The Need

The ocean absorbs about 25% of the increasing carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by humans, now roughly 7 million tons of CO₂ every day.  As a consequence, seawater is becoming more acidic. Alaska is expected to experience the effects of ocean acidification faster and more seriously than lower latitudes because waters in Alaska are both ‘cold and old’: cooler water temperatures and global circulation patterns mean that Alaska waters naturally hold more CO₂ year round. On top of this high baseline concentration of CO₂, other processes also naturally lower the pH of Alaskan waters on a seasonal scale. Because species can be sensitive to a change in pH, ocean acidification could impact commercial, sport, and subsistence fisheries and wildlife management.

As conditions change, researchers need to pay particular attention to the nearshore.  First, it’s a place where local communities tend to harvest shellfish and other potentially vulnerable species. Also, ocean chemistry in the nearshore tends to have a larger range of variation due to natural factors such as tidal cycles, freshwater outflow, glacial melt, and terrestrial inputs. This is a complex system! Thus, having long term monitoring in nearshore areas is critical to fully understanding local conditions and drivers, how levels fluctuate seasonally, and long term change over time. 

Project Details

Figure 1. Esther Kennedy and Burke Hales calibrate the Burke-o-Lator operated by the Sitka Tribe.

AOOS contributes to the maintenance of four Burke-o-Lators, located at coastal sites around the Gulf of Alaska. A Burke-o-Lator is a system of sensors that measures a suite of carbon chemistry parameters critical to ocean acidification: pCO₂, TCO₂. temperature and salinity. Using these four parameters, the saturation state of aragonite and pH are determined in real-time. Aragonite is a form of calcium carbonate that is critical to shell formation, and the aragonite saturation stateprovides a unit of measurement for how favorable the water is to shell-building organisms.

Another unique feature of the Burke-o-Lators is they can be taken off “continuous” mode and used to analyze discrete samples taken other places. In addition to collecting time-series data, the Burke-o-Lators now process water samples collected on a weekly basis from over 20 communities across Alaska. This provides the opportunity to get a regional picture of conditions on a local level, as well as promote local engagement. This community monitoring effort for OA is unique in the U.S.

Wiley Evans of the Hakai Institute leads the Burke-o-Lator effort in Alaska. He works closely with staff at each Burke-o-Lator location to trouble shoot issues (Burke-o-Lators are complex and take a significant amount of care and feeding). Evans also analyzes the data from both the continuous and discrete samples.

Alaska’s Burke-o-Lators are part of the IOOS Pacific Region Ocean Acidification Network (IPACOA) that links similar sites along the Pacific coast of North America. The Burke-o-Lator systems are named after their inventor, Burke Hales from Oregon State University, who continues to be involved in Alaska’s Burke-o-Lators.

Project Highlights

Data from the Burke-o-Lators have documented a clear picture of the large seasonal swings in ocean chemistry over the course of the year. Generally, conditions are more acidic in the fall and winter due to a number of natural factors. The Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute has the longest running continuous CO₂ records for the State of Alaska.

Funding Sources & Partners

> Hakai Institute
> AOOS
> Northwest Associations of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS)
> NOAA Ocean Acidification Program
> Oregon State University (OSU) College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
> UAF Ocean Acidification Research Center (OARC)

Resources

• Alaska Ocean Acidification Network
• IOOS Pacific Region Ocean Acidification Network
• Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network

Principal Investigators